Ushering in a brand new period within the nation’s sports activities administration, the legendary P.T. Usha was on December 10 elected as the primary lady president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
The 58-year-old Ms. Usha, a a number of Asian Games gold medallist and fourth-place finisher within the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics 400m hurdles ultimate, was declared elected unopposed for the highest put up within the polls.
The elections had been held below the supervision of Supreme Court-appointed retired SC choose L Nageswara Rao.
The election of Ms. Usha to the highest job marked an finish to the lengthy drawn disaster within the faction-ridden IOA, which was warned of a attainable suspension by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) if elections are usually not held this month.
The polls had been initially resulting from be held in December 2021.
Ms. Usha’s anointment to the highest put up was a forgone conclusion late final month after she emerged because the lone candidate for the highest put up.
Nobody was prepared to battle towards Ms. Usha, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in July.
Ms. Usha, fondly referred to as the ‘Payyoli Express’, is being seen as a candidate of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which had nominated her as a Rajya Sabha member in July.
She additionally turned the primary Olympian and first worldwide medallist to move the IOA in its 95-year-old historical past, including one other feather in her cap after dominating Indian and Asian athletics for twenty years earlier than retiring in 2000 with a bagful of worldwide medals.
Ms. Usha is the primary sportsperson to have represented the nation and in addition turn out to be IOA chief since Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, who performed a Test match in 1934. Singh was the third IOA president who held workplace from 1938 to 1960.
Source: www.thehindu.com